Radiocommunications Amendment Regulations 2005

Note

These regulations are administered in the Ministry of Economic Development.

Pursuant to sections 116, 134, and 135 of the Radiocommunications Act 1989, Her Excellency the Governor-General, acting on the advice and with the consent of the Executive Council, makes the following regulations.

2Commencement

3Matters chief executive must take account of

Regulation 12 of the principal regulations is amended by adding, as subclauses (2) and (3), the following subclauses:

“(2)For the purpose of assisting the chief executive to take into account the matter referred to in subclause (1)(b), the applicant for a radio licence must, when applying for that licence, either—

“(a)supply a certificate from an authorised person referred to in regulation 46(ba) or (bb); or

“(b)pay to the chief executive the engineering certification fee set out in the third column of Schedule 6 (so that the chief executive can commission engineering work with a view to obtaining a certificate from an authorised person referred to in regulation 46(ba) or (bb)).

“(3)The certificate referred to in subsection (2) must certify that, in the opinion of the authorised person, the radiocommunication service for which the radio licence is required is technically compatible with existing radio licences and spectrum licences.”

4Applications

5Issue of certificate of competency

Regulation 24(1) of the principal regulations is amended by omitting the words “and on the payment of the prescribed fee”.

6New regulations 38 and 39 substituted

The principal regulations are amended by revoking regulations 38 to 40, and substituting the following regulations:

“38Fees payable to chief executive for radio licences

“(1)The licensee under a radio licence must pay to the chief executive the annual administration fee set out in the fourth column of Schedule 6—

“(a)by the commencement date of the licence; and

“(b)annually, within the period of 1 month immediately before each anniversary of the commencement date of the licence.

“(2)The chief executive may waive a fee payable under subclause (1) in proportion to the period that the licence is current (rounded up to the nearest month) if the licence expires or is revoked earlier than 12 months after the date by which the fee must be paid.

“39Fees payable to chief executive for spectrum licences

“(1)This regulation applies to the following licences:

“(a)spectrum licences created under section 48(1)(a) or (b) of the Act:

“(b)licences that—

“(i)were created under section 48(a) or (b) of the Act (as in force immediately before the commencement of the Radiocommunications Amendment Act 2000); and

“(ii)are deemed, under section 59 of the Radiocommunications Amendment Act 2000, to be spectrum licences.

“(2)The rightholder under a licence to which this regulation applies must pay to the chief executive the annual administration fee set out in the fourth column of Schedule 6—

“(a)by the commencement date of the licence; and

“(b)annually, within the period of 1 month immediately before each anniversary of the commencement date of the licence.

“(3)The chief executive may waive a fee payable under subclause (2) in proportion to the period that the licence is current (rounded up to the nearest month) if the licence expires or is cancelled earlier than 12 months after the date by which the fee must be paid.”

7New regulation 44A inserted

The principal regulations are amended by inserting, after regulation 44, the following regulation:

“44ADiscount for payment using online service

“(1)A person paying an annual administration fee by the due date by credit card or direct debit using an online service is entitled to a 10% discount on the amount of the fee that would otherwise be payable.

Example

The holder of a radio licence (for a multiple repeater with bandwidth of 12.5 kHz), which has an anniversary of 1 March 2006, pays the annual administration fee by credit card over the Ministry of Economic Development's website on 13 February 2006. The correct amount payable is $1,170 ($1,300 less 10%).

“(2)In this regulation, online service means a service provided by, or on behalf of, the chief executive that allows payment of the fees under these regulations to be made by means of the Internet.”

8New Schedule 6 substituted

The principal regulations are amended by revoking Schedule 6, and substituting the Schedule 6 set out in the Schedule of these regulations.

9Schedule 7 amended

(1)Schedule 7 of the principal regulations is amended by omitting from forms 2 and 7 the words “and must be accompanied by the prescribed fee”.

(2)Schedule 7 of the principal regulations is amended by omitting from form 19 the words “The application must be accompanied by the prescribed fee.”

(3)Schedule 7 of the principal regulations is amended by omitting from form 22 the words “and must be accompanied by the prescribed fee. No fee is payable if the correction is necessary because of a mistake made by the Registrar or by any of the Registrar's officers”.

10Transitional provisions

(1)If a licensee of a radio licence has paid a fee under regulation 38(1) of the principal regulations (as in force immediately before the commencement of this regulation), the licensee is not liable to pay the fee under regulation 38(1)(a) of the principal regulations as substituted by regulation 6 of these regulations for that licence.

(2)If a rightholder of a spectrum licence has paid a fee under regulation 39(2) of the principal regulations (as in force immediately before the commencement of this regulation), the rightholder is not liable to pay the fee under regulation 39(2)(a) of the principal regulations as substituted by regulation 6 of these regulations for that licence.

(3)Sections 38(4) and 39(6) of the principal regulations (as in force immediately before the commencement of this regulation) continue to apply to fees payable before the commencement of these regulations.

Regulation 3 reflects a policy change to enable an applicant for a radio licence to provide a certificate from the applicant's own engineering certifier about the technical compatibility of the applicant's application with existing licences. Alternatively, they can pay a fee, and if the application is technically compatible with other licences, Ministry of Economic Development staff will provide such a certificate.

Regulations 4 and 5 remove the current requirement in regulations 23 and 24 of the principal regulations for an application for a certificate of competency to be accompanied by a fee of $25.

Regulation 6 substitutes new regulations 38 and 39 into the principal regulations and revokes regulation 40. The new regulations set out the matters for which fees are payable under the Radiocommunications Act 1989 and the amounts of those fees. Regulation 8 substitutes a new fees schedule.

Regulation 7 inserts new regulation 44A into the principal regulations, which reduces an annual administration fee by 10% if it is paid on time using an online service.